A store fire in the northern Russian city of Ukhta killed nearly 20 people on Monday, emergency officials said. The emergency situations ministry put the toll at 19 dead and 17 injured. The Federal Security Service in Moscow earlier said 16 had been killed and 20 injured.
Minister of Social Development Minister Zola Skweyiya has vowed to arrest grant fraudsters, saying on Monday that some mothers are using subsidies meant for their children to have their hair done. Skweyiya said in the past the government lost about R1,5-billion a year to grant fraud.
Sanlam, South Africa’s second-largest life assurer, is planning to undertake a share repurchase totaling about R4-billion as part of its major capital restructuring plans, the company said on Monday. The group will offer shareholders R12 per share in a specific pro-rata offering for 10% of their shares.
South African church leaders were ”shocked” on Monday by conditions at a holding camp housing people displaced by Zimbabwe’s controversial government clean up operation, said Matthew Esau, the spokesperson for the archbishop of Cape Town Njongonkulo Ndungane.
Indications are that the South African residential property market is not generally experiencing bubble conditions just yet. However, it is quite conceivable that certain types of housing in certain areas of the country are experiencing bubble conditions, says a senior Absa economist.
People should use condoms and not have sex too young, said former president Nelson Mandela on Monday.
German police, called to a house early on Sunday because of complaints about noise, were taken aback to be welcomed as eagerly expected male strippers. Two officers were greeted by a group of women with cries of "Are the strippers here at last?" when they visited the premises in the north-western port city of Bremen.
Millions of Londoners returned to work on Monday riding rush hour trains and buses, trading fretful glances amid security warnings that new attacks could occur as long as the bombers remained at large. The police also closed central streets, including Downing Street, after a suspect package was found in the Whitehall area.
Indonesian ministers got a chilly reception on Monday when they showed up for work in casual wear after a presidential decree to turn down the cooling — only to find the order had been ignored. Vice-President Yusuf Kalla and 16 ministers showed up in batik and casual shirts or that outcast from decades ago, the safari suit.
Authorities in the former Khmer Rouge stronghold of Pailin said on Monday that nearly 40 people have fallen victim to what they believe to be a contaminated batch of crab sauce imported from the nearby town of Battambang. Police have ordered vendors to stop selling crab sauce until it can be sent to the capital for testing.